Trade to Penguins was ‘welcome change’ for Matt Niskanen after tough ending in Dallas

Matt Niskanen said it was strange walking back into American Airlines Center on Thursday morning. After all, the 25-year-old defenseman was a first-round pick of the Stars in 2005 (28th overall) and had plenty of fond memories in the building.

Of course, the good memories didn’t include the final days of Niskanen’s stay in Dallas, before he was traded last February to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I needed to get out when I did. That was a welcome change for me,” Niskanen said Thursday morning in his first visit since the 2011 trade in which he and James Neal were sent to Pittsburgh in exchange for Alex Goligoski. “Whether it was good times or bad times, I learned a lot here, and it’s going to help me moving forward.”

Niskanen said he is happy in his new home with the Penguins, and he played a big role Thursday after Kris Letang left the game with an upper body injury. He said his ability to shore up his game in Pittsburgh probably has a lot to do with the hardships he survived in Dallas.

“Those are hard lessons,” he said. “It stinks being in and out of the lineup and not playing well. I had success early here, and some of that was because I was playing well, and some of that was because I was playing with good guys and on a good team.

“A lot of things went right for me early, and then all of a sudden things went south. I think that in the long run, it’s going to make me a better player. I think it already has this year.”

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said he sees Niskanen as much more than just an extra player who was thrown into the deal. He sees him as a dependable regular who has 18 points and is plus-8 in 61 games.

“He’s been in a lot of different roles — first power play, second power play. He’s been in our top four given our injuries, maybe our best and most improved player from the start of the season,” Bylsma said. “He’s been playing well, he’s been defending, and has been good with the puck. Matt’s done a real good job for us this year, been a strong performer for us.”

And that means that coming back was actually a pretty happy experience.

“It’s been a really good change for me, it opened my eyes to a fresh start,” Niskanen said. “I think starting this year is when I really started to feel comfortable and started to get the confidence back and started playing a little better. It’s been a good year for me. It’s really going well and the team is doing well. It’s been a blast.”